Black Winter
by TeamUnitedNerds
Summary: An AU in which Simon and Betty survive the Great Mushroom War, and the crown ends up in the hands of someone else
1. Chapter 1

Simon Petrikov always had a fondness for collecting antiques. In fact, it became his occupation later in his life, when he worked as an antiquarian. Now, collecting antiques was not a hobby, or even an occupation, but a necessity. It was only a few short months after the Mushroom Bombs had been released, and the world had already devolved into chaos. Mutants roamed the streets, and haunting, irradiated winds blew through empty houses and stores. Humanity was almost nothing, withered away to nothingness. What remained of mankind was to the human race as glass shards are to a window. Simon now collected antiques so if by some chance the human race managed to rebuild from this savagery, they could look back on past generations and maybe learn there lesson. Maybe something like this would never happen again

Maybe

Maybe.

Simon walked along the empty streets, clutching the straps of his backpack close to his chest. He was on one of his patrols, in which he would go out in search of items that would best represent his era, or human survivors, who he would bring back to his house/shelter/museum. He just called it "home"

He glanced around, humming the most sincerely happy tune he could think of. He glanced to his left and right, but saw no sign of survivors or mutants. Something was refreshing about the emptiness, at the very least he wouldn't be bothered by any of the monstrosities that surfaced after the bomb went off. Simon was terrified by the mutants, something about their oozing flesh and lurching motions made him shudder. He was never a good fighter either, so he usually chose to run away before those dripping monstrosities could catch sight of him

Simon sighed, and sat down on the corner of a street, his cheerful humming ceasing. Suddenly, his ear began to pick up the tune of his song, but being hummed by someone else, someone with a sweet and young, yet mature voice. He walked around the street corner, towards the source of the noise, and spotted a young girl, legs dangling over the side of the sidewalk and arms draped at her side. "Hello there, little girl" Simon said, his voice low and cautious. She didn't appear to be a mutant, but her skin was pure gray, and her teeth were sharp and pointed. It could have been some harmless disorder caused by the bomb, but Simon was long beyond taking any chances.

She whipped her head around, and glanced at Simon before picking up a nearby bottle and hurling it at him. It landed harmlessly at his feet. Simon wasn't sure if it was an act of aggression, or simply self-defense. He took in a deep breath. "It's alright, I don't want to hurt you" She glanced up at him. "Really?"

"Of course" Simon smiled. "Are you alone out here?"

She nodded. "Well then, I can take you somewhere where you'll be safe"

She turned her head away from him.

"I promise, you'll be safe there"

"Fine" she said. "And my name's Marceline, by the way"

"Marceline" Simon said to himself. "What a nice name. Your father must've really..." Simon bit his tongue instantly upon realizing what he had said.

"I'm sorry" he adjusted his glasses awkwardly.

"No, it's fine" Marceline said.

Simon turned around, and knelt down. "Just hop in my backpack" he said.

Marceline pulled open his backpack and jumped in, letting out a light giggle. "You should meet my girlfriend, Betty" he said while walking along the road back towards his house. "She always wanted a daughter, you know. But the uh...radiation did something to her, so we could never have a kid of our own"

"Oh" Marceline said solemnly.

"We're here!" Simon said, arriving at a large, multilevel house with no windows and a single, steel door with a passcode lock. Simon entered the password and the door slid aside, and slid back into place when Simon and Marceline entered the building. They were inside of a cozy, large room, with comfy furniture throughout. On one of the walls was a couch, and on the couch was a young lady with red hair and a green sweat, sipping calmly at a steaming cup of tea.

She looked up from her drink to see Simon, standing there awkwardly. Simon removed his backpack and laid it on the ground. Marceline stayed inside, watching the pair covertly, or so she thought. Her black, and mystifying clean hair was still poking out of the top of the backpack, but Simon didn't notice. He scratched the back of his head of messy brown hair as Betty rose from her couch, leaving her tea on a nearby table. She kissed Simon lightly on the cheek and glanced down at the backpack. She kissed Simon again and said, towards the backpack "So, I see we have a visitor"

Marceline popped out of the backpack, putting both her hands into the air. "My name's Marceline" she said with a toothy smile, her stubby fangs poking out past her lips. Betty examined her closely, and pulled Simon aside. "What's with her skin? Does she have radiation poisoning or something?"

"No, I don't think so" Simon scratched his chin. "She doesn't seem sick at all. I thought the skin could be some kind of harmless mutation, just like her fangs"

"Where did you find her? Does she have any parents?"

Simon shook his head. "She said that she didn't have any. She was sitting on a street corner"

Betty suddenly wrapped her arms around Simon's side. "Well, she looks lovely"

"Y...yeah. I was wondering if we could be her parents from now on"

"Of course"

Simon smiled warmly, before shouting "Stop!" at Marceline, who was currently running towards a staircase. Marceline froze in place. "Sorry" Simon said. "Upstairs is where I keep my antiques. They're extremely important to me any everyone else. I just want to make sure that you don't break them"

Marceline nodded shamefully, and Simon shut the door and locked it. "I think it's about time to go to bed, anyways" Simon said, letting out a long, clearly artificial yawn. Betty nodded, and pulled a mattress out of a closet, throwing a paper-thin blanket over it. "Sorry, this is the only bed we have, and it's pretty chilly" she scooted closer to Simon. "I guess we'll have to cuddle together for warmth"

Simon let out a tremendously loud laugh while turning a shade of cherry red. Marceline stared at him, fascinated. "Oh...okay" Betty laid down on the bed, Simon next to her, and Marceline between the two. Before long they were all sleeping peacefully, with the exception of Marceline. She was still awake, staring at the ceiling, arms crossed over her chest. She couldn't stop thinking about the antique room, and all of the forbidden mysteries it could have held. Finally, she slipped silently out of the bed, and ran towards the door. Simon had locked it, but he hadn't shut it all the way, allowing Marceline to pull open the door and slip through.

Her little feet ran across each step, making no more noise than if it was a mouse running up the stairs. She reached the top of the stairway, and pushed open the large metal door that stood between her and a room of wonders.

The room was large, and well lit, spotlights aimed upon glass cases with a variety of ancient and recent items within, ranging from soda bottles to ancient swords. One item in particular caught her curiosity the most, a golden crown with red jewels, upon an open pedestal. Marceline had always dreamed of being royalty, so she lifted the crown up, struggling with its heaviness, before finally managing to hoist it onto her head.

A feeling ran through her body, like snow had just been injected into her veins. Her vision blurred, everything around her taking on a whitish glare. She shivered violently in place. "W...wow" she said, lifting up her hands, from which sprung twin fountains of snow. "C...cool"

She twisted her hands around, morphing the snow into simple shapes at first, starting out with a ball before transferring to a cube and pyramid. Finally, she decided to try something complex. She broke up the snow into three separate spheres, stacking them on top of each other to form a snowman.

She scratched her chin, and swiped her hand forwards, causing the snowman to grow a pair of arms and dance around. She giggled to herself while her teeth chattered.

Then, she wondered if she could make something out of the snow, something she never had. She snapped her fingers, and the snowman grew a pair of legs, and a more humanoid face, wearing a suit. She now had a snow replica of her father, or at least, what she assumed her father looked like. Something was missing, though. She snapped her fingers again, giving him a full beard. No, that wasn't right. She clapped her hand, banishing the beard into nonexistence. Whether or not he had the proper facial hair, he was still her father to her. She gave her hands another firm clapping, causing the snowman to run towards her, picking her up in his arms and hugging her.

The snowman suddenly dissolved, the snow itself vanishing entirely. Marceline's vision was suddenly crowded with dripping, howling spirit creatures, with twisted, impossible forms shouting banal cries of meaningless nothingness. They crawled towards her, spitting oozing, unearthly slime at her. Marceline shrieked, ripping the crown off and throwing it aside. The spirit creatures dissipated, and Marceline sighed with relief, although she still shivered. She stared at her reflection in one of the glass cases, and saw that a single strand of her hair had turned pure white. She shrugged, and went back downstairs. She squeezed back between the arms of Simon and Betty, shutting her eyes as hard as she could.

The spirit creatures still haunted her dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been two nights since Marceline had joined Simon and the rest of the survivors. Since then, Marceline had tried her best to put the encounter with the crown behind her, and live the most normal-ish life she could with her new "parents"

And it was quite a good life, too. She started every morning with a pile of delicious pancakes, made by Simon, who was apparently a talented cook. Currently, Marceline was spending her nights as she always did, curled up between Simon and Betty, smiling to herself blissfully. The night was silent and still, and everything felt so slow and peaceful that it was as if time had stood still.

The stillness was broken by an aggressive knock on the steely door of the shelter. "Simon, could you get that?" Betty whispered lazily, one of her eyes flickering open before snapping shut again. Simon reached for his glasses, and put them on, with them sitting crooked on his head. He rubbed his eyes and stood up, lurching towards the door.

When he arrived at the door, he pounded his fist in it, leaning against it sloppily. "Hello?" Simon called out. "Is anybody there?"

"Fuck you, I'm already inside" he heard a voice say, sharp, commanding, and unfamiliar. It sounded like it was coming from upstairs. Upstairs, where Marceline and Betty were.

Simon's eyes snapped open, and he immediately ran towards the stairs, clumsily tripping over his own feet. He fell forwards, but caught himself against a wall. Panting, he sprinted up the stairs, and shoved the door open once he reached it. By time he arrived at the floor everyone else was on, his hands were on his knees, as he was gasping for air. "I...is everyone alright?"

Betty blinked herself awake. Marceline remained sleeping. "Yeah, I'm fine" Betty yawned.

"I" Simon panted again. "I heard someone say they were upstairs and I was worried and..."

"Simon, you're not making any sense"

"Sorry. I must've imagined it. I'm just so t..."

Even in the dark, Simon could see what looked like a puddle of ink floating along the floor. He adjusted his glasses. "What the..."

The shadow quickly materialized itself into humanoid male figure. His skin was a pale grey, and his hair was fiery red, and reached all the way down to his feet, sweeping gently against the ground. Atop it was a small golden crown, adorned with red gems. He wore a neatly pressed red suit. Around his neck was a string, which was holding up a still-beating heart.

Betty snapped awake. "Who are you?" she rose to her feet, and backed up towards a drawer, from which she pulled a combat knife. She held it with purpose. She was certainly experienced with such a weapon.

"You don't even know me and you've already pulled a knife on me? That's just fucking rude" he smiled to himself, exposing a single long, pointed fang. In almost an instant, he appeared before Betty, and slapped the knife out of her hand. Marceline was still curled up into a ball, peacefully unaware of the distress around her.

"I wasn't even going to hurt you. Anyways, I'm the fuckmothering king of vampires, alright? So I have a shitton of vampires to rule over and stuff. Anyways, the vampires feed off of the color red as well as blood, if you didn't know, but both of those things are in short supply. The lower class vampires are fine with just drinking the color red, but vampires of a higher kind, like me, require pure blood to drink. Anyways, one of my servants told me about you, Simon, and how you're always going out and finding people to bring back to your little home here. So, I was wondering if you could bring me and my people one small little blood-filled person so we don't all starve to death"

"I'd never sacrifice another human's life" Simon said, his fists clenched in rage.

"Then sacrifice the lives of everyone currently living here, and your home itself. If you can't bring me a suitable meal, consider yourselves evicted"

Betty growled to herself, bitter at the hopelessness of her situation. "And don't try to do anything funny, either. I'm immortal, and if I catch any of you trying to get out of this in any way, I will fucking eat every single one of you, starting with the little girl" he glared at the sleeping Marceline with his soulless red eyes.

The Vampire King snapped his fingers, and vanished in an shadowy burst of smoke.

Betty sighed. "Listen, Simon" she said softly. "There's no way out of this, we have to offer someone as a sacrifice. I don't even know if there are any humans left, and I don't want to deal with the burden of having to sacrifice someone else. Just offer me up to them. I'm not going to last much longer either. You know what the bomb did to me. First the infertility, then the coughing. I don't have much time left Simon. We both know I'm dying"

Simon sighed. "Betty, I want to preserve every moment I could possibly have with you as long as possible"

"What, do you want the last thing I ever do to be killing someone?" she asked, shaking. "No, no, of course not" Simon said softly. "I don't know what to do, but I don't want to lose you Betty. Not now. Not this soon"

"But if I live, someone else will have to die because of me..."

"I know. I'll find someone who doesn't want to live. It won't be hard to find someone who's given up on life in this wasteland. If there's anybody even left. Maybe I could get Moe to sacrifice himself. He's been talking about dying and leaving behind his legacy so much..."

"There's not enough human left in him" Betty sighed. "Fine, we'll find someone else, but promise me, if there's no other option, sacrifice me. I'd rather die than have all of us be killed and have this entire museum, the only record of humanity just be destroyed" Simon wiped one of his eyes. "I promise. We'll all head out tomorrow. I need some sleep"

Simon gently nudged Marceline to the edge of the bed, and wrapped his arms directly around Betty, who did the same

Neither of them got any sleep that night.


End file.
